Method to the madness: 4 scoops to winning a customer!

SaaS solutions are plenty. There are a myriad of opportunities and multiple customers, personas potentially engaging with your product.?

Your sales team is expected to

1. Create deep roots to enable Org wide penetration
2. Be cognisant of customer time?
3. Stay solution oriented and yet build a rapport with the customer
4. Reduce the span of a sales cycle?
5. Articulate the value of the product and minimize discounts

Yada yada yada…?

Puts you in a lurch?

If you sales folks are doing all of this and closing on deals - kudos!

The burgeoning impact of multiple SaaS solutions is leading to a ‘feature -? functionality fatigue’. It is becoming all so relevant to find the most effective way to spend your time as well as your customer’s time.?

Here is an attempt to put some method to this madness through sharp narrative building, defined success criteria to articulate and walk your customer through the sales cycle with absolute clarity.

Think of this as a ‘4/4 coiffed matrix of calls, agenda, success criteria and tools deployed to achieve this success. For most B2B SaaS sales, this fits like a glove.? Let us try and further drill this SaaS sales pedagogy down. Please note that these are steps post your MQL activity.

Call 1: Discover your customer

1 .Objective:?

>> Get the customer to understand your solution. Adding an industry flavour to your elevator pitch and coupling this with case studies definitely help improve resonance with your customer.

>> Use your first call to discover your customer. I would typically use a questionnaire approach to do this. Also, I try to bake the questions into my narrative instead of pulling up my screen and running through the list of questions.?

>> Categorise your questions. Understand the lay of the land at your customer’s end. Let the customer speak. Sometimes, you stumble across Chatty Cathys. If not, gently nudge the customer.?

>> Pick a set of problem statements that your solution addresses. For the uninitiated, create a checklist of problem statements- make it as contextual to the customer as possible (industry flavour, Revenue size, number of employees, transaction volume category are a few factors to slice the problem statement into). This gets the less talkative ones to warm up.

>> Back your solutions with high level case studies - this intrigues the customer and brings out a lot of talking points

2. Success Criterion:?

>> Customer? (Champion) associates with the product

>> Customer (Champion) articulates the problem statement

>> Customer (Champion) agrees to bring the right stakeholders (Gatekeeper, Influencer) for the next meeting

3. Tools used:?

>> Elevator pitch deck - Industry specific

>>Discovery questionnaire with categories of questions and a checklist of problem statements, the Menu card

4. Tone of Narrative: Prescriptive, Diagnostic and extremely friendly

Call 2: Land at a Package, chalk expansion trajectory

1 .Objective:?

>> You have heard your prospect’s qualms. Time to showcase pointed solutions. Recall the menu card -? Sift through this menu card and checkbox items that solve your client’s problems.?

>> Point your client towards one solution that they can start with. This way, they embark on a journey. Build out solution packages that address each problem statement. This intrigues the customer, safeguards your platform and makes the customer feel like he is paying only for his problem. Automatically justifies the ROI question in your customer’s mind.

>> Think of product adjacencies. This is a very key difference when compared to most sale attempts by companies in the growth stage. I have often noticed sales folks getting excited and opening up the entire platform and all offerings to the customer. In my opinion, this results in an overwhelmed customer who is often confused. Also, it gives little opportunity to upsell at a later date. To accommodate this is an org wide decision to adopt the ‘Land and Expand’ approach? -communication, culture, incentives, etc need to be aligned accordingly.

>> Toggle to the platform and showcase snippets of your solution. This can be invigorating - like the first drops of rain after an extended drought. Note that this is not a full fledged demo, but helps capture your customer’s attention and stay focused. Otherwise this becomes verbose and a customer is already imagining his version of a platform. You might as well leave less to his imagination.

2. Success criterion

>> You have the right stakeholders at the meeting (Champion, Influencer, Decision maker)

>> Customer asks for ROI, is intrigued and asks the right set of questions to deploy the product in their org. This way they are envisioning your product in their organization.?

3. Tools Used

>> Menu card/ Checklist

>> Sales packages

>> High level demo

>> Being prepared with a phase wise roadmap

4. Tone of Narrative: You are looking to intrigue the customer. Stay friendly, affable and bring out suggestions. Accommodate for changes and hustle. Sounds like you are winging it, but there is a method to this madness.?

Call 3: Deliver value with your product

1.Objective

>> This is where I love to bring PLG elements into my sales story. People talk about PLG and SLG as mutually exclusive motions. An untold secret, the synergies are? GOAT. Stay tuned for a scoop on PLG paving way for the community enchilada

>> Seeing in believing.Your product builds a community of viewers, users and therefore payers. A nimble structure in the form of a marketplace enables your MOAT story in PLG and caters to any customer through its bottom-up acquisition strategy.

>> Pull up a nimble version of your product that the customer can access quite immediately. Sign-up and prepare beforehand (you know the customer’s choice from the menu card and the list of attendees). This gives transparency in UX, ease of use and functionalities.?Also,? this enables focus on the right set of next questions - how to deploy this, minor tweaks, integrations, etc. This is the snowball effect you want to achieve.?

>> By this time, the customer is convinced and wants to create an internal case for budget allocation. When the users understand that their experienced value aligns with perceived value, the trust between your business and your users becomes inevitable. Therefore, they will not hesitate to buy your product.

2. Success Criterion:?

>> The customer talks about UX and understand the product in depth - plays around with the sandbox and is fairly satisfied with results

>> The Champion is talking about creating an internal use case for your product. Take lead on this - make it collaborative. Articulate clear ROI.?

3. Tools used

>> PLG - nimble marketplace demo

>> ROI questionnaire for creating an internal case

>> Case studies and success stories

>> Readymade integration and implementation Gantt with bandwidth allocation from client’s end as well as yours showcasing the timeline for implementation

4. Tone of narrative: Demonstrate your product with the right rhetorics. Lead with examples and allow the user to explore the product. Take lead on ROI and show your willingness to collaborate with the Champion - be clear and assertive about the ROI.?

Call 4: Articulate, negotiate and close!?

1. Objective:

>> Present an internal case with ROI

>> Agree on timelines, bandwidth and integrations

>> Negotiate like your life depends on it (warrants a whole series and a lot of research - On it!). Stick to solution packages, Consumption metrics (if it matters to your business) and the professional fee element (a.k.a Platform fee, OTD)

>> Be clear about upgrades and downgrades in the product, if it applies, Minimum Guarantees and derive the ACV

2. Success Criterion: No point for guessing this - at this time you are discussing contracts and sign offs.

3. Tools used

>> ROI case study - Client specific

>> Commercials

>> Trajectory

4. Tone of narrative : The right mix of firm, genuine and clarity

TLDR version for you!

There you go! Close your deals in 4 scoops and build practices that are sustainable, replicable and form a base for opportunities in the future.